A Not So Secret Confession
by Alykazaam
Summary: Juvia is ambushed by an attack in the woods. She finds the source to be Levy, who is training with Gajeel, and witnesses a conversation between the two that leads to something more.


It was a sunny spring day in Magnolia, a slight breeze rustled through the trees; leaves dancing among their branches, casting similar dancing shadows onto a blue haired mage in a blue dress coat and matching color cassock's hat. She looked up and gazed at the blue sky as it peeked through the various gaps that the trees happened to miss in their quest to capture the sunshine. Though it was only a short time ago since she first saw that untouchable blue, Juvia could not comprehend how she managed to live her life so long without it.

Juvia continued her stroll in the forest, taking in the sweet scent of spring flowers, and enjoying the happy songs of young birds; life would be complete if she was walking beside her one true love.

Lost in the thoughts of her beloved the water maiden failed to notice the birds had suddenly hushed their singing to rush to the skies above until it was almost to late.

The first object grazed past the very tip of her nose. Her eyes widened as she turned to the object's origin only to find others making their way to her.

The speeding projectiles easily traveled straight through her aqueous body and making contact deep inside the bark of the trees behind her.

"Who would possibly want to hurt Juvia-sweet on this fine day?" She whispered to herself mentally readying herself for battle while inspecting the nearby trees.

The tree was riddled with small pieces of iron, at a closer glance Juvia noticed how the iron was shapely and delicate like flower petals. There was only one person she knew who could forge iron from magic, but his craft was rustic, much like himself.

"No," she said to herself, "Juvia-sweet knows another who could make iron pretty like this but…"

"Not bad, Shrimp," a voice was heard close by. Juvia gasped and ducked into the nearby bushes. Peeking through the leaves she saw her friends and fellow guild-mates of Fairy Tail. There was Gajeel, her oldest friend and confidante. Both mages made names for themselves when under the now disbanded Phantom Lord banner. The Iron Dragon himself stood tall, arms crossed, his long unruly hair draped down behind him.

The other, a petite lady fair with golden brown eyes and blue hair that matched the sky above them, was Levy. A longtime member of Fairy Tail whose skill in ancient magic languages are unsurpassed in Magnolia and, according to some, all of Fiore.

"That solid script did some serious damage to those trees over there." Gajeel admired the effect of the offensive magic Levy had demonstrated.

"It's something I have been working on," the script mage replied lowering her writing hand and relaxing her stance.

"Although," the dragon slayer smirked eyeing his small companion with a hint of admiration. "I gotta say the iron is a nice touch."

Levy turned away slow enough to hide her rosing cheeks subtly, but not too fast, so as not to rouse any suspicion from the man before her.

Nestled in the bushes, Juvia watched her friends' interaction with each other, "Oh my, a compliment from Gajeel, and Levy is blushing. Could my suspicions be true?" Since the two Phantoms joined Fairy Tail, Juvia found love and, in time, when seeing this new comrade and her old one together unnoticed she could not help but wonder if the seeds of love were sprouting and blossoming from the foundations of friendship between them.

The way Levy looked at him as he would brood at a lonely table. And how Gajeel's crimson eyes once filled with malice, slowly softened and seemed to come to life. Levy's magic strategy became more supportive and used to strengthen others, whereas Gajeel stopped seeing his guild-mates as expendable and even going into harm's way to protect them.

"It takes so much out of me to complete that spell." Levy confessed as she lowered her head. "It seems no matter how hard I try, I just don't have the strength."

She heaves a heavy sigh as the wind slowly dances with her dress, one dyed the hue of ripe tangerines in summer. Levy's hair, held back with a headband of the same citrus hue, waved about with the soft winds. As if the sky come to earth atop of her head in wavy tresses.

Gajeel didn't look away. Juvia wondered, what in this moment was he thinking in that head of his? Could he, just maybe, be trying to remember this moment to the finest detail and lock it away as his prized treasure in the dragon's hoard within his heart?

He walked toward Levy, the forest was silent other than the soft crunch of the earth beneath his black boots. By the time Levy looked in his direction Gajeel was standing a few inches before her. The top of her head barely reached his shoulder.

This man, towering over her; his ebony hair cascading down about the tanned skin of his pierced face and blending into his black shirt, trimmed with woven steel and lined with grommets along the collar.

Levy gazed at him with honey eyes, and she did not look away.

"You're stronger than you realize, Shorty."

The words softly left his lips in a husky whisper that almost failed to reach Juvia's ears in the bushes. Gajeel's crimson gaze locked with Levy's own, unwavering and projecting the truth in his words.

"This strength you speak of, Gajeel, how do you, out of everyone in Fairy Tail, see this within me?"

Levy's words were filled with earnest and longing for an answer. Her golden gaze gently demanded to know the secret that Gajeel alone knew. Their eyes lost in each other as if nothing else in the world existed.

It was now Juvia who could not look away as a memory slowly revealed itself in the mist of her mind.

"Gajeel!"

Sitting on a giant pile of scrap iron, Juvia's fallen comrade quickly turned to her with a long, twisted nail hanging from his mouth looking like a farmer's child with a strand of wheat.

"I didn't notice you on the count of all the sunshine. What do you want?" he asked while turning away.

"Juvia-sweet has come to ask you to join Fairy Tail with me."

"And why would I do that!?"

"Because you are Juvia-sweet's comrade and I don't you to be alone."

"Well, _Juvia-sweet_ , I'm gonna have to decline, besides," Gajeel's glare was as hard as the iron that hangs from his lip. His voice as bitter as the rust that formed on the very same iron nail. "Why of all the damned guilds in Fiore, would you go to that forsaken place?"

"Because I found love, Gajeel."

His hard stare softened and he turned away. He could still feel the deep unyielding gaze of his former guild-mate.

"How do you know?" His tone had softened but remained harsh. "What makes you think some Ice Mage has captured your heart so tightly that you run into the open arms of the enemy after you met defeat by their hands?…"

Juvia stood silent in the sun. Her silence wore Gajeel's patience thin.

"Answer me!"

"Look around you, Gajeel, the answer surrounds us. But if Juvia's words are necessary, I will answer. I knew it was love the moment the sky itself came apart and all I saw and felt was light."

"Tch."

The rain woman turned around and began to walk away.

"Juvia."

"Yes, Gajeel?" She stopped and turned around to face him. He sat with his back turned to her. "Even if I'm not going with you, I want you to know that I am happy for you. He must be one hell of a guy to take the rain out of the Rain Woman herself."

Juvia smiled and blushed at the thought of her beloved. After turning around once more she waved and said, "I hope Gajeel finds what he is looking for."

As she continued to walk away she heard her friend mutter one last thing.

"Don't waste your worry."

"I've done many things I didn't regret." Gajeel broke the silence that was cracking with the gentle rustle of leaves, "I have allowed the pleas of others fall onto my deaf ears, and seen tears that never wavered this heart of steel."

Levy looked into those eyes hanging onto every word. She flinched with surprise when his hand reached up and cradled her soft fair cheek. She quietly sucked in a breath of air as her heart skipped a beat.

"It takes an incredibly strong person to show someone the error of their ways." With a strong arm Gajeel pulled her into an embrace. Levy's face grew hot hot in his hand as her heart began to flutter more. Her whole body felt as if it were engulfed in flames as his gruff voice resonated in her ear and the and his warm, sweet breath grazed her soft jawline.

"Shrimp, you just may be the strongest person I know."

Gajeel's hand slowly slid into her azure locks as his lips gently landed onto hers. Levy wove her delicate hands into his mane as she returned her latent affections.

Juvia could not look away.

"I know I should avert my eyes from this private moment, but Juvia-sweet has never seen anything so touching." She whispered to herself as tears welled up in her eyes and fell gracefully down her cheeks. Her fingertips of her hands covering her mouth to hush her joyous sobs.

"I can't turn away." She uttered quietly.

Suddenly under the clear blue sky above the trees canopy, little drops of rain began to fall around them in their romantic moment from no where. The first few drops made home on the couple's noses. Gajeel and Levy slowly opened their eyes to see the other's face flushed and wanting. They looked up at the sun shower and marveled at how the sunshine made the falling droplets shimmer like lacrima crystals, raining magic itself down onto them.

"Sun showers are rare in the Magnolia region," Levy whispered softly to Gajeel, wishing she could fall deeper into his embrace; "I have only read about them in old books. It's so beautiful."

"I have smelled this rain before," he replied quietly to his love, "but I have never seen it fall like this.

Juvia remembered her comrade's keen sense of smell, and heard his statement as a subtle request for her leave. As she quietly stole away she turned around for one last glance.

Gajeel took Levy's hand and pulled her soft wrist to his lips to kiss, he took in her scent of flowers, ancient paper, and walnut ink laced with hints of iron and whispered three words he never thought he could say.

"I love you."

 **Author's Note: instead of using the typical "Juvia-san/kun" when writing this, I decided to play along with an English way of Juvia addressing herself and was curious of how you,as readers, felt about it. I am more than willing to change or edit this if it does not read well. If you have read this story on Tumblr, I am the original Author, I promise. I just wanted to post this on here and see of more people would have a chance to read it and feel as mushy as I did writing it.**

 **Aly-Kazaam**


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